Immigration sweep nets 24 on Long Island

Federal agents have arrested 24 people on Long Island on charges of either being criminals illegally in the country or violating immigration law, officials said Monday.

The arrests were part of a nationwide sweep named "Cross Check" that resulted in a total of 3,168 arrests and was aimed at "prioritizing the removal of criminal aliens and egregious immigration law violators," officials said.

Ten of those arrested were from Nassau County and 14 from Suffolk County. They were among a total of 127 rounded up in the New York area, according to Luis Martinez, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The six-day operation began March 25 and concluded Friday.

Many of those arrested had been ordered to leave the country following criminal convictions but failed to do so. Others had been deported and re-entered the country illegally, officials said.

Among them is a 44-year-old male Guatemalan national from Hampton Bays who had been convicted of sexual abuse of a person less than 14 years old, Martinez said. Citing privacy regulations, Martinez said ICE could not release further details on the man or his case.

Other arrests, Martinez said, include Maurice Duhaney, 46, a Jamaican national living in Brooklyn who had been convicted in 1985 of manslaughter, criminal possession of a weapon and sale of a controlled substance.

Because of privacy regulations, further details were not released, Martinez said.